


Well Sharp

by techieturnover



Category: Black Sails
Genre: Character Study, Chidi (Black Sails), F/M, Gen, Kofi (Black Sails), basically i just wanted to explore Madi's world and give her some love, coming-of-age story, original characters abound, tags may be added as the story progresses, will eventually include madi/silver and canon-era events
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:41:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27723626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/techieturnover/pseuds/techieturnover
Summary: "If I were to spend five years cutting down a mighty tree, I would spend the first three sharpening the axe."---Madi is six years old when her mother wakes her in the middle of the night and tells her they are leaving. For the next eighteen years, she is kept safe and sheltered. She knows love, and joy, and anger, and she is taught all of the things she will need to know to become the next Queen of the Maroons.
Relationships: Madi/John Silver, Madi/original character
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	Well Sharp

**Author's Note:**

> This story starts on the night that Madi and her mother escape, and will go through the end of Black Sails and a bit past. Eventually it will meet up with the events that end in Doubting Thomas but it is designed to be read as a complete standalone. 
> 
> This fic is unfinished, so I can't guarantee regular updates, but it will, eventually, be complete. Also it is as of now unbeta-d. If you'd like to volunteer plsssss hit me up. 
> 
> Title shamelessly stolen from the Bob Marley song "Small Axe"
> 
> "So if you are the big tree  
> We are the small axe  
> Ready to cut you down (well sharp)  
> To cut you down"
> 
> The song is also used in reference to a new series by Steve McQueen ("Small Axe") that I HIGHLY recommend.

Madi is six years old when her mother wakes her in the middle of the night and tells her they are leaving. She sees her father holding a low-burning lamp, and tears in her mother’s eyes. Something inside Madi tells her she must be quiet, even though neither of her parents tells her to. 

They leave the small house that is the only one she has known and head to the shore of Nassau. There is a boat waiting, small, nothing more than one of the smallest boats Madi has seen. There is a strange man with it. He is dark like them, and her father talks to him before turning to her mother.

Madi stares at the man, and he stares back. Then her father is kneeling in front of her, and he hugs her. She hugs back, because she loves him and it feels good to hug him. 

“I will see you again soon.” She is confused by that, especially because he sounds sad, and not at all like the confident, funny father she knows. She looks to him, and then to mother. Both of them are crying and Madi wants to cry now too. Something is happening. She feels tears in her own eyes but her father wipes them away quickly, drawing her in for another hug. 

“Do not cry. Go with your mother and Esam, and be a good girl.” 

“No!” She refuses to let go when he tries to pull back.

“Madi!” her mother scolds her, and she feels her mother’s firm hand on her shoulder. “Madi we must go.”

“Why!” She won’t let go until she knows why they are being separated. The terrifying thought crosses her mind. The one she’s heard about.

“Are we being sold?”

“No.”

“No.”

They both say it so quickly, and firmly, and all at once that it puts her at ease. Just a little. Just enough to loosen her grip. 

“Then why aren’t you coming with us?” 

“I have some things I need to do here, first. But I will see you again.”

Madi stomps, once, even though she knows it isn’t right, but she lets go and scrubs at her eyes. Her mother takes her hand, and she grips it with both of hers. They are almost to the boat when something urgent grips her and she pulls back from her mother. 

“Madi what is it?”

“I have to tell Baba I love him.” It is, for some reason, the most urgent thing she has ever felt. 

Her father strides to them, and kneels again. He waits.

“I love you, Baba.” She means it, and he smiles at her the smile she knows.

“I love you too, Madi. Now go.”

They climb in the boat, and it is the last time she sees her father for a very long time.

\---

Madi doesn’t know how long they were on the boat. She knows she is cold, and that she must have fallen asleep on her mother’s lap because the next thing she knows it is light. There is a cloth over her head where it rests, but as she sits up it is pulled off. 

The water makes her jump when she sees it, and her mother has to grab her sleeve before she falls in. 

“Madi, we are still on the boat.” 

She stares at her mother until the words make sense again, until she remembers the night before, and saying goodbye to her father. Her mother hugs her, and she feels a little better.

“Are we there yet?” she asks, even though she does not see any land. 

“Not yet, but we are close.” 

Madi turns because the man has spoken. In the daylight she can see him clearer. He is very big - one of the biggest people she has ever seen up close. It is not just that he is tall. Even sitting down he is much bigger than her mother. But he is also very wide. He almost takes up the whole side of the boat he is on. 

He watches her as she watches him. “Who are you?” 

“I am Esam.”

“How do you know my parents?” 

“Your father asked me to help you escape.”

“Why?”

“Madi!” 

“Why!” This time she directs the question to her mother. She still does not know why they have left.

Her mother and Esam share a look and she sees her mother shake her head.

“Your father has found a place that is safe for us. We are going to live there now. We will not be going back to Nassau.”

“Not going back?” 

“No.” 

Madi doesn’t understand. She thinks of her friends, Kisi and Chidi. Of Eleanor. Of the way they played, of how the older girl was so beautiful and smart and all the things Madi wanted to be.

“What about Eleanor!” 

Her mother’s mouth draws into a line like it does only when she is very angry. 

“Eleanor must never know where we are. I have told you before that Eleanor is not your friend, no matter how much she thinks she is. She cannot be, and you cannot be hers.” 

Madi cries, because it is the only thing she knows to do. It isn’t fair, and she thinks briefly about jumping into the water just to make her mother as upset as she is. But Esam puts a big hand on her back and it surprises her. 

“You will have new friends. It is a good place where we are going. There are other children, and dolls. You will be able to have your own.”

Madi sniffles, tugging the snot back up into her nose and wiping what remains. “Can I have a doll with very bright hair?”

Her mother starts to speak but Esam also starts. “Yes.”

Madi looks to her mother, who still looks very angry. Madi knows that it is her mother who will control her dolls. Her mother, though, eventually shakes her head, and she looks nice again.

“Yes. You may have a doll with bright hair.” There is something sad in her voice, though. She swallows and says after, “You will be able to have many dolls.” The thought makes Madi very excited.

\---

When they arrive Madi thinks the beach looks very much like the one in Nassau, except there are no buildings that she sees. There is only white sand and green trees, everywhere. It looks like a very fun place to play, but not a fun place to live. She looks to her mother, who is also looking at the trees.

“It is this way.” Esam says. He secures the boat, and then leads them to a small alcove, a break in the trees. Madi is delighted, and begins to imagine that maybe they are playing a game. 

Maybe they have landed on the other side of Nassau and Esam is really going to lead them back. To her father, to Eleanor, to the things Madi knows. 

But they do not go back to Nassau.

Instead the tree cover gets thicker as they head deeper into the jungle. They walk for long enough that Madi gets very tired of walking. She is about to complain when the trees break and she forgets about her annoyance. 

Behind the gap there is a town! A small collection of buildings spread along the bank of a slowly flowing river. She can see people moving on the shore. They look like ants. 

A sudden loud noise startles her and Madi screams. She looks to Esam, and he is smiling. Laughing, holding a ram’s horn in his hand. 

“This is an abeng. We use it to communicate.”

“Is that what made the noise?”

Esam nods, and brings the horn to his lips. The sound happens again, much softer than the first time. Madi wants to hold the horn, and she reaches her hands up to ask for it. Her mother begins to chastise her, but Esam gives her the horn and Madi giggles in delight. It is heavy and the ridges on the edges feel cool and solid to the touch. She puts her mouth to the end just like Esam and blows, hard. The sound it makes is nothing like the sound Esam had made. The noise Madi makes sounds like a fart.

She blows again, harder, but all that happens is that her cheeks hurt and the fart sound happens again. She hands the horn back to Esam, who is laughing. Madi pouts. She doesn’t think it is very funny. 

“I will teach you how to use it,” Esam assures her. “For now, you will meet your new family.” 

That distracts Madi from the horn, and she looks to where Esam is pointing. There is a small boat waiting on the near bank of the river. Inside, another dark man sits. He is much skinnier than Esam, Madi thinks he looks like he is made of twigs. He does not look like he is strong enough to row them all back across the river.

But they all get in the boat. Esam sits at one paddle and the skinny man takes the other, and Madi is amazed at how quickly and smoothly the boat crosses the river. She looks out over the edge as they go. The water beneath is clear, and she can see fish swimming below the surface. It smells very different from the water she is used to in Nassau.

When they reach the shore, Madi is overwhelmed with excitement. She sticks close to her mother, holding her hand tight, but she also hops up and down, splashing in the shallow water as they disembark. Esam goes ahead and speaks to a woman. Madi notices immediately that this woman is very old, and very wrinkly. She stoops like Madi has seen the very old women her mother works with do. She has very short hair that is all grey and she is missing an arm at the elbow.

When they reach her, the woman looks Madi directly in the eye. Her gaze makes Madi suddenly uncomfortable - it is as serious as when Madi is in very much trouble with her mother. But then the woman smiles, revealing a mouth half empty of its teeth, and she leans down. 

“Welcome.” Madi leans closer to her mother, half hiding in her mother’s dress. “Do not be shy - you are among only friends here.” 

“Thank you for taking us in. My husband and I are very grateful,” Madi’s mother says, and the woman looks to her. The woman looks very kind, now that she has smiled. 

“We are glad of the help offered by your husband. And of course, we are always happy to welcome new people.”

Madi pulls on her mother’s hand. Her mother looks down and Madi sees the other woman does as well. 

“Where are we?” Madi’s mother opens her mouth to speak, but the woman holds a hand up gently, before kneeling down to Madi’s level.

“You are home.”


End file.
